PCG Spreading Islamophobia After Terrorism in Brussels

On March 22, 2016 terrorist minions of ISIL launched terrorist attacks in Brussels that murdered 35 innocent people. The following day PCG released an article by Robert Morley and Richard Palmer discussing ISIL's terrorist attacks.

Let us see how the PCG's chose to respond to this crisis.

Islamic terrorists detonated three bombs, killing dozens of people in Brussels on Tuesday. The attack follows the arrest of the mastermind behind the French terrorist attacks that killed 130 people on November 13. Now European leaders say Europe is at war. Is Europe finally waking up to the threat posed by radical Islam? What will it do about it? (Robert Morley and Richard Palmer, Belgium Attacked—Europe ‘Under Attack’, March 23, 2016.)

It was ISIL that committed those ghastly acts of mass murder. By labeling the murderers as "Islamic terrorists" this insinuates that all Muslims are somehow guilty by association. This is morally and legally wrong. Rather we must be careful to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent.

One particularly grotesque aspect of labeling terrorists of ISIL as "Islamic terrorists" is that it obscures the fact that most of ISIL's victims in Iraq and Syria were other Muslims. Why slur the vast majority of ISIL's victims and their relatives and friends who happen to be Muslim as though they were somehow guilty by association of ISIL's murders? This is wrong.

Those who carried out these terrorist attacks are the ones responsible. No one else.

Many Europeans are still in shock. A lot of people really don’t want to believe that the Europe of today is very different than the Europe of just a few years ago. Brussels used to be one of the safest cities in the world. It had very little crime.

Politically, there have been a lot of statements of unity from various leaders. “We are all Belgians” is the common sentiment.

But events are forcing opinions to change about potential threats from Islam.

It is now clear that Islamic terrorists are embedded within Europe and have an extensive network. Analysts note that for the Paris mastermind to elude authorities for so long and for the extremists to still coordinate such an attack, the web of linkages must go far beyond just close family members.

Here we see the main flaw of Islamophobia, namely incorrectly viewing Islam as a singular political movement. In fact Islam is a widely varied religion. It is true that most Muslims are united by holding certain religious teachings in common.

But politically speaking the Muslim world is divided into many nation states. And within these nation states there are many differing political movements and organizations. Some are right wing. Some are left wing. Some are democratic. Some are authoritarian. Some are rather secular. Some use their religion for political mobilization. Some wish to live in peace with everyone.

So it is complete nonsense to speak of Islam as though it was a singular political movement as is done in this PCG article.

But even as people wake up to the threat, there also seems to be some effort by leaders to avoid identifying where the terrorist danger is coming from.

“The fight against terrorism is the duty of every one of us,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said.

His comments were typical. There is a mention of terrorism or terrorist attacks. There is talk about hatred and violence. But there is an obvious avoidance of making any link between Islam and terror—even as Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Should all Muslims in the world be blamed for what 30 people in some criminal conspiracy associated with the terrorists of ISIL committed? Of course not. But shamefully PCG insinuates that this should be done. This is morally and factually wrong.

The article ends with the following fearful prognostication that Europe will fall into a far right, xenophobic nightmare. Elsewhere PCG teaches that Europe is fated to united with help from the Pope into some sort of superstate that is fated to militarily conquer the United States. These words allude to that doctrine.

Think of what a change this would mean: a change away from the modern, pluralistic, multicultural Europe that we see today. The rise of the far right and the political turmoil shows that Europe is already moving in this direction. Some European leaders are talking about accepting only Christian migrants. It is getting much easier to imagine states beginning to view all their Muslim citizens with suspicion.

This is where these terrorist attacks are pushing Europe. It’s helping to create a unified and more integrated Europe. A Europe that moves away from the evils of multiculturalism toward a darker future where the state discriminates among its citizens. A Europe with a Christian identity—where Muslims are not welcome. A Europe that is fighting Islam abroad.

This is exactly how Bible prophecy says Europe will ultimately deal with its terrorism problem.

The idea that the United States will soon be conquered by a European military superpower is an idea that Armstrongism has consistently taught since the 1930s. This false prophecy has always failed and will never come to pass.